Informative campaign IDENTIFYme. For missing and unidentified persons

Dental information is one of the most used data for identifying human remains when visual recognition is no longer conceivable or appropriate. The comparison of dental data represents in fact, one of the primary methods suggested by Interpol, and is also used in the identification of victims of Mass Disasters. Therefore, the dental records held on the missing person represents a precious source of individualizing information that should be shared with forensic operators and police forces when reporting the disappearance, but also as a later adjunct report.

From 1974 to 31 December 2018 the number of missing persons in Italy were 229.687. Of these, 171,974 have been found and 57,713 are still to be found. The worrying figure is represented by the unidentified human remains: 903 bodies to which we can add other 1,730 connected with the migratory phenomenon. [Source Ministry of the Interior]

Families and relatives could hold sources of individualizing information of a dental nature of the missing person, which often risk being undervalued. Hence, the idea of the new international information campaign which will be called IDENTIFYme IDENTIficami IDENTIficame IDENTIfier moi IDENTIfifiziert mich ?????????? ??? ??????? ?????? promoted by the forensic dentist Emilio Nuzzolese, professor of legal medicine at the University of Turin. This is an information campaign aimed at raising awareness amongst the public and the authorities of the phenomenon of missing persons and of the need for a more timely process of identifying unidentified bodies. The information campaign will be translated into six languages (in addition to Italian, it will be translated into English, French, German, Spanish and Arabic). 

For years I have been emphasizing the importance of an oral autopsy to collect dental data in order to arrive at a speedy and effective identification and respect of the human rights of the dead. Equally important, for the comparison of data, is the collection of dental information on the missing person. The iDENTIficami (IDENTIYme) information campaign will help families and relatives to identify other possible sources of information useful for personal recognition, in combination with the initial disappearance report. The aim is to amass a collection of photos depicting the smile, of sports mouthguards, of bite plates for bruxism, of old radiographs and old mobile orthodontic or retainer devices, that the forensic dentist will be able to convert into valuable individualizing data, is envisaged by the forensic dentist Emilio Nuzzolese, promoter of the initiative.